TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft BI (MSBI)

    Score7.1 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft BI is a business intelligence product used for data analysis and generating reports on server-based data. It features unlimited data analysis capacity with its reporting engine, SQL Server Reporting Services alongside ETL, master data management, and data cleansing.

    $14

    per month per user

    Microsoft Power BI Embedded

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AA solution from Microsoft to provide customer-facing reports, dashboards, and analytics in applications by using and branding Power BI as one's own. Designed to reduce developer resources by automating the monitoring, management, and deployment of analytics, while getting full control of Power BI features and intelligent analytics.N/A
    Pricing
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Editions & Modules
    Power BI Pro
    $14
    per month per user
    Power BI Premium
    $24
    per month per user
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    11 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    10 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    11 Answers
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    11 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    10 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    Features
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.7
    48 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    -
    Ratings
    Pixel Perfect reports9.041 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards8.048 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates9.046 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.8
    48 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    -
    Ratings
    Drill-down analysis9.043 Ratings00 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities8.048 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages9.038 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration9.048 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    47 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    -
    Ratings
    Publish to Web9.043 Ratings00 Ratings
    Publish to PDF9.043 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Versioning9.039 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling9.042 Ratings00 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers9.023 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    47 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    -
    Ratings
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)9.046 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization9.043 Ratings00 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics9.041 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    48 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    -
    Ratings
    Multi-User Support (named login)9.045 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model9.042 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)9.045 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)9.027 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    38 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    -
    Ratings
    Responsive Design for Web Access8.035 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Application8.026 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile10.035 Ratings00 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.8
    20 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    -
    Ratings
    REST API9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
    Javascript API9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
    iFrames9.017 Ratings00 Ratings
    Java API9.016 Ratings00 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)9.017 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)8.016 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score8.8 out of 10
    GoodData
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zendesk Explore
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Reveal
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score9.7 out of 10
    GoodData
    Score8.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (72 ratings)
    8.7
    (11 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.0
    (25 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.9
    (14 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.9
    (15 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    6.9
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.6
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    8.5
    (42 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sources
    8.4
    (41 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Power BI Embedded
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    Microsoft BI is well suited for Stream analytics, easy data integration, report creation and UI/UX designs (limited but what all available are great ones) Microsoft BI may be less appropriate for handling huge number of datasets and difficult queries. It may also be difficult for a company with heavy data.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    This product is very convenient to use and implement and is considered a "de facto" standard in the Business Intelligence sphere. First of all, it contains numerous features in terms of visualization, data provisioning, data source integration which makes it a perfect tool for the development of BI analytics. Secondly, it provides great capabilities for the development of data markets for the whole development team. Thirdly, the sharing capabilities of dashboards that are updated in a real-time manner provides great incentives for end-users
    Read full review
    Pros
    Microsoft
    • Comparatively easy to use compared to other data analytics solutions, collaborating with other colleagues on data work is simple.
    • Using Visual Studio for database, ETL, reporting, and analytics development save time and money.
    • Transfer of data from one application to another via Excel and comparison of data attributes between applications
    • Dashboard functionality, as well as Python support, are available, allowing you to add additional charts and graphs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • It is very easy to connect multiple data sources for a single report. You can use CSV, Excel, database integration, etc.
    • Power Bi supports Python as well, which makes it a lot easier for us as it is known by most of our team.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Microsoft
    • The race to perfect gathering of Non-Traditional datasets is on-going; with Microsoft arguably not the leader of the pack in this category.
    • Licensing options for PowerBI visualizations may be a factor. I.e. if you need to implement B2C PowerBI visualizations, the cost is considerably high especially for startups.
    • Some clients are still resistant putting their data on the cloud, which restricts lots of functionality to Power BI.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Similar to how Excel has VBA, Microsoft Power BI uses PowerQuery (M/DAX). Though DAX is similar to Excel in terms of how it is written, I just think it's something that would be difficult for new users to figure out.
    • Something I would like to see done differently in Microsoft Power BI is the ability to have presets for sorting/arranging of visualizations. Though it is nice to arrange the dashboard freely, it would also be nice to have preset arrangements based on visualizations (for those of us bad at making dashboards look appealing).
    • With Microsoft Power BI, it is hard to show others your dashboard using the free platform (unless you show them from your computer/account). This can cause issues if your firm is trialing Microsoft Power BI before purchase.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    Microsoft BI is fundamental to our suite of BI applications. That being said, Northcraft Analytics is focused on delighting our customers, so if the underlying factors of our decision change, we would choose to re-write our BI applications on a different stack. Luckily, mathematics are the fundamental IP of our technology... and is portable across all BI platforms for the foreseeable future.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Microsoft
    The Microsoft BI tools have great usability for both developers and end users alike. For developers familiar with Visual Studio, there is little learning curve. For those not, the single Visual Studio IDE means not having to learn separate tools for each component. For end-users, the web interface for SSRS is simple to navigate with intuitive controls. For ad-hoc analysis, Excel can connect directly to SSAS and provide a pivot table like experience which is familiar to many users. For database development, there is beginning to be some confusion, as there are now three tool choices (VS, SSMS, Azure Data Studio) for developers. I would like to see Azure Data Studio become the superset of SSMS and eventually supplant it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    The product has been reliable.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Microsoft
    SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) can drag at times. We created two report servers and placed them under an F5 load balancer. This configuration has worked well. We have seen sluggish performance at times due to the Windows Firewall.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    While support from Microsoft isn't necessarily always best of breed, you're also not paying the price for premium support that you would on other platforms. The strength of the stack is in the ecosystem that surrounds it. In contrast to other products, there are hundreds, even thousands of bloggers that post daily as well as vibrant user communities that surround the tool. I've had much better luck finding help with SQL Server related issues than I have with any other product, but that help doesn't always come directly from Microsoft.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    In-Person Training
    Microsoft
    This training was more directed toward what the product was capable of rather than actual programming.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Microsoft
    I have used on-line training from Microsoft and from Pragmatic Works. I would recommend Pragmatic Works as the best way to get up to speed quickly, and then use the Microsoft on-line training to deep dive into specific features that you need to get depth with.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Microsoft
    We are a consulting firm and as such our best resources are always billing on client projects. Our internal implementation has weaknesses, but that's true for any company like ours. My rating is based on the product's ease of implementation.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    We have used the built in ConnectWise Manager reports and custom reports. The reports provide static data. PowerBI shows us live data we can drill down into and easily adjust parameters. It's much more useful than a static PDF report.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    I haven’t used any other software that can be compared to this and that is a good thing as this means that this software is the best one on the market. Tough other apps may exist we only use Microsoft Power BI because it is simply the best app out there.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • As a SaaS provider we see being able to provide self-service BI to our client users as a competitive advantage. In fact the MSSQL enabled BI is a contributing factor to many winning RFPs we have done for prospective client organisations.
    • However MSSQL BI requires extensive knowledge and skills to design and develop data warehouses & data models as a foundation to support business analysts and users to interrogate data effectively and efficiently. Often times we find having strong in-house MSSQL expertise is a bless.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Saved a significant amount of time for reporting current rollout status to project stakeholders
    • Project stakeholders were able to view the live dashboards at any time so felt they had a better understanding of the rollout status
    • Project stakeholders found it beneficial that they were able to set their own filters. For example, to view rollout status for their own departments.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots